A stop sign is nearly covered by floodwater from the Ohio River in Metropolis, Ill. Heavy rains have left the ground saturated, and rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The river is "probably the biggest tourist attraction in Memphis," Scott Umstead, who made the half-hour drive from Collierville with his wife and their three children, told the Associated Press.

In New Orleans and Baton Rouge, spillways are being opened to ease the pressure on levees. Bloomberg’s Lizzie O’Leary reports from New Orleans that families have brought their children down to see the spillway open. She writes on Twitter, “My cameraman: ‘Gotta love our state. hey guys - we gonna open a floodway on the river, y'all come on down!’”

For more information, the National Weather Service has created a one-stop resource page for the flooding.

Here are some photographs and videos from the flooding:

A spillway is opened in New Orleans. (Lizzie O’Leary/Bloomberg via YFrog )